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More than 9 in 10 US Millennials (aged 18-34) use Facebook, while fewer than 4 in 10 use Twitter, according to results from a recently-released survey conducted by the Media Insight Project, an initiative of the American Press Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The survey finds that Millennials have different reasons for using each platform, with Facebook use driven primarily by a desire to keep current with friends’ lives and Twitter use more to see what’s “trending.” › Continue reading

Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL and five other big names in digital media in the UK are rallying together next week as they bid to steal share of advertising dollars from TV broadcasters — by replicating the same tactic TV broadcasters use to sign huge “upfront” deals with advertisers.

They’re hoping to shift tens of millions in spending their way.

Next week the UK will host its first “Digital Upfronts”, a week-long event where digital media owners will tout their wares to advertisers and agencies in the hope of signing major deals. There will be 11 presentations in total, some glitzy parties and celebrity appearances as the digital titans battle it out to woo advertising executives away from traditional media (you can find the full calendar and all the companies appearing here).

The idea is taken from the US in 1962, when TV network ABC began premiering all its most attractive programming in one week in the Fall but sold advertising for those shows in the Spring — hence “upfront.”

The advantage of the Upfront, for media sellers, is to create a short, quick window for ad sales in which advertisers will feel forced to lock in the best deals they can. In general, the system has kept prices for TV advertising high (even though advertisers feel they’re locking in discounts because they’re buying in bulk).

The vast majority of TV advertising across the world is now sold in this way: far ahead of time and accompanied by Upfronts events held by the broadcasters to showcase their programming and ad opportunities for the forthcoming seasons. But digital media tends to be bought much closer to when it actually appears, and it can often be a bit of an afterthought in the campaign planning process.

The digital media industry wants to change that and hopes the Upfronts tactic will gloss up their display and online video ads as more premium offerings akin to TV so they can book in more revenue ahead of time.

One source from one of the big digital media companies involved with the Upfronts next week told Business Insider they expect “tens of millions of pounds” worth of deals to be struck over the course of the five days.

Other companies involved have told Business Insider the first year of Digital Upfronts in the UK will be less about immediate upfront commitments being signed, but more about showcasing what is on offer to raise understanding among advertisers.

But they do say that will change over time. In the US, where digital “NewFronts” have been running for seven years, major deals are now announced at each annual event. It just takes time for advertising buyers to change their habits.

It may take longer for that muscle memory to grow in the UK. As digital marketing website Digiday explains, the event this year is dominated by US technology platforms, which reduces the likelihood of new content or product announcements for the UK audience.

We don’t know know the exact cause-and-effect relationship between the US NewFronts event and digital advertising deals and it’s difficult to estimate just how much business the UK event will pull in.

3. Teens are still getting most of their money from their parents. This chart shows parental contributions for average- and upper-income teens over the years.

4. For the first time in the survey’s history, T.J. Maxx ranks as one of teens’ top 10 favorite brands. Nike remains the top clothing brand for all income levels. American Eagle, Forever 21, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Urban Outfitters also rank among the most popular apparel brands. Top footwear brands for upper-income teens a! re, in o rder, Nike, Vans, Converse, Sperry Top-Sider, and Steve Madden.

5. Brands that are losing popularity among teens include Aeropostale, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Hollister. Here’s a graph of the top-cited brands that teen girls said they no longer wear:

6. On the flip side, brands that are starting to get more popular among teen girls include Brandy Melville, American Eagle, and Free People. Teens boys cited Nike, Ralph Lauren, and Under Armour as up-trending brands.

7. Teens’ favorite websites for shopping are Amazon, Nike, and eBay.

8. Teen girls said the top fashion trends for fall 2014 include leggings, crop tops and high-waisted pants and skirts.Men cited Nike, “preppy,” “tall socks,” Vineyard Vines and Chubbies as top trends for fall.

9. Instagram is the most important social network for teens, followed by Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, respectively.

10. Apple remains th! e top el ectronics brand for teens. 67% now own iPhones, up from 61% in the spring, and 73% say that their next phone will be an iPhone. 16% of teens said they are interested in the Apple Watch.

While digital marketing channels tend to serve mostly as a middle touchpoint in a consumer’s path to purchase, the extent to which they raise awareness or act as a final touch varies by channel, according to a new report [download page] by AOL Advertising. The study – which used recently-acquired Convertro’s multi-touch attribution technology to analyze its client base in Q1 2014 – contains a host of intriguing data pertaining not only to the role of various channels – but to differences within those channels, also. › Continue reading

Smartphone-based computing had led to much more internet-based activity, and more opportunities to collect location data. The consumer stampede into social media means that the tastes, preferences, and frustrations of billions are shared online.

In a couple of recent reports from BI Intelligence, we take stock of how all this data is the bedrock for a new generation of business tactics and applications. We focus on dispelling hype around big data, and describe clearly what it is — and what it isn’t.

Most companies are underusing data: Seventy-one percent of chief marketing officers around the globe say their organization is unprepared to deal with the explosion of big data over the next few years, according to an IBM survey. They cited it as their top challenge, ahead of device fragmentation and shifting demographics.

Only BI Intelligence subscribers can download the reports in PDF form and download all the charts and datasets for their own research and presentations. Subscribers also gain full-access to all our ongoing charts and in-depth reports on the mobile and social industries.

The new breed of Instagram spambots are savvier than ever, and that’s because they’re pretending to be you.

Spambots are against Instagram’s API Terms of Use, which states in part, “You shall not use the Instagram APIs to post automated content to Instagram, including likes and comments that were not initiated and entered by an Instagram user.”

But the new spambots are different than the Instagram accounts set up earlier in this year, which impersonated real lottery winners and offered money to people who followed them. In an effort to avoid spam filters, these new spambots are creating new accounts using real people’s names, their Instagram pictures, and even their photo captions, The Verge first reported Wednesday morning.

And Instagram users are taking notice to the fake accounts that are impersonating them.

Here’s what the real Instagram account looks like compared to the spambot impersonator:

It’s likely that these spam accounts are part of a black market for people that pay for fake followers. It’s a trend that occurs across social media platforms: users pay for followers for any number of reasons ! — to make themselves look more credible, perhaps, or just to make their “cool ratio” more favorable.

The Verge noted some patterns across the spambot accounts: The spambots tend to follow thousands of other users, but don’t have many of their own followers. Users tend to realize their online identity is being copied when the Instagram spambot reposts a photo caption word for word, tagging the real user’s friends in a caption originally posted by the real Instagram user.

Instagram provides some guidelines for what to do if you’re being impersonated, The Verge points out. You’ll have to report the account to Instagram and then prove your own identity by submitting a form of ID.

There’s data to prove it: According to the latest data from ComScore, which was charted for us by Statista, Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram are the most popular social platforms among users 18-34, but Snapchat is right behind those networks — and actually ahead of Twitter. It’s quite the incredible jump when you consider Snapchat’s audience penetration has almost doubled in nine months’ time, as the company’s audience was only 12.1% in November.

Here’s the blog post from Twitter announcing the news. It sounds like Twitter wants to use the technology to bring real-time commerce.

We’re excited to announce we’ve agreed to acquire CardSpring, a payments infrastructure company that helps merchants work with leading publishers to create online-to-offline promotions.

Twitter has always been a vibrant environment for users to discover product recommendations and promotions from artists, experts, brands and friends. In fact, we’ve already given users the ability to get deals and discounts, surprise someone with a coffee, or even add items to their online shopping cart — all directly from a Tweet. As we work on the future of commerce on Twitter, we’re confident the CardSpring team and the technology they’ve built are a great fit with our philosophy regarding the best ways to bring in-the-moment commerce experiences to our users.

UNILEVER LOOKING TO SLASH DIGITAL AGENCY COSTS: Add Unilever to the long list of big marketers looking to squeeze costs out of ad agencies. The consumer products giant is currently conducting a review of its digital agencies, in part to reduce fees, sources tell CMO Today. Unilever has been vocal in recent years about the need to slash “non-working media” costs, like agency and production fees. Clients, looking to cut costs wherever possible, are expecting ad agencies to do more for less these days. That, of course, isn’t going down so well at the holding companies. WPP’s CEO Martin Sorrell earlier this week spoke out against marketers’ desires to cost-cut their way to growth, noting in a LinkedIn post that “there’s a limit to how much you can cut, but top-line growth (driven by investment in marketing) is infinite, at least until you reach 100% market share.”

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Digital Consigliere

Dr. Augustine Fou is Digital Consigliere to marketing executives, advising them on digital strategy and Unified Marketing(tm). Dr Fou has over 17 years of in-the-trenches, hands-on experience, which enables him to provide objective, in-depth assessments of their current marketing programs and recommendations for improving business impact and ROI using digital insights.